By ShortFast Editorial Team ·
From February 1, 2027, a new channel needs 1,000 subscribers plus either 20 million Shorts views in the last 90 days or 8,000 watch hours in the last 365 days to join the YouTube Partner Program. Today the bar is 10 million Shorts views or 4,000 watch hours, so both routes double. Channels already in the program keep their status, which makes the next few months the cheapest time to qualify.
YouTube also adds a rule for Shorts income: from the same date, earning from the Shorts revenue pool in a given month needs 10 million Shorts views over the last 90 days. This post covers exactly what changes, who it affects, what the numbers mean per day, and a 100-day plan for a faceless channel that wants to qualify on today's terms.
What changes on February 1, 2027
YouTube Partner Program thresholds before and after February 1, 2027
Prices from each vendor's pricing page, checked
| Until January 31, 2027 | From February 1, 2027 | |
|---|---|---|
| Subscribers | 1,000 | 1,000 |
| Long-form route | 4,000 public watch hours in 12 months | 8,000 qualified watch hours in the last 365 days |
| Shorts route | 10M public Shorts views in 90 days | 20M qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days |
| Earning from the Shorts pool | Partner Program membership and the Shorts terms | Also 10M qualified Shorts views over the last 90 days |
| Fan funding tier | 500 subscribers, 3 uploads in 90 days, 3,000 hours or 3M Shorts views | Unchanged |
| Channels already in the program | Not applicable | Keep their status |
YouTube's wording is "qualified" views and watch hours for the 2027 thresholds. Check the Earn section of YouTube Studio for your own channel's status.
Sources: YouTube Help: Partner Program updates · YouTube Help: Partner Program overview · YouTube Help: fan funding tier
There are three changes, all on YouTube's own help page for the update.
The entry thresholds for new creators rise. You still need 1,000 subscribers. The long-form route goes from 4,000 public watch hours in 12 months to 8,000 qualified watch hours in the last 365 days, and the Shorts route goes from 10 million public Shorts views in 90 days to 20 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days.
The Shorts revenue pool gets its own threshold. To earn from the pool each month, a channel will need to maintain 10 million qualified Shorts views over the last 90 days. Missing it does not remove a channel from the program and does not affect its other earnings, such as long-form ads or memberships.
The definition of an active channel changes. A channel counts as active if it has 1,000 qualified watch hours in the past 365 days, 1 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days, or uploads 2 long-form videos or 5 Shorts every 90 days. Channels that fall below get a 90-day window to become active again.
What does not change: the fan funding tier, which unlocks memberships, Super Thanks and Shopping at 500 subscribers, 3 public uploads in 90 days, and 3,000 watch hours or 3 million Shorts views. And channels already in the Partner Program are not affected by the new entry thresholds.
Who it affects
If you are already in the Partner Program, your membership stays. The rule that reaches you is the Shorts pool one: from February 1, 2027, a Shorts-heavy channel needs 10 million Shorts views every 90 days to earn from the pool that month.
If you are not in the program yet, the date matters more than anything else in this post. A channel that meets the current thresholds and is accepted before February 1, 2027 joins on today's terms. A channel that gets there after the date faces a bar twice as high.
If you run a faceless channel, the change pushes in a direction you can use. Faceless channels can post daily without filming, and daily posting is the most reliable way to build views and watch hours quickly. The channels that start now have about a hundred days of posting before the deadline.
What the numbers mean per day
Today's Shorts route, 10 million views in 90 days, averages about 111,000 Shorts views a day. The 2027 route, 20 million, averages about 222,000 a day. In practice nobody gets there evenly: a rolling 90-day window means a few videos that break out carry most of the total, so the real job is giving the algorithm as many good chances as possible.
The long-form route works the same way. 4,000 watch hours in a year is about 11 hours of watching a day; 8,000 is about 22. Views from the Shorts feed do not count toward watch hours, so this route needs real long-form videos, which is also where ad rates are highest.
A 100-day plan to qualify on today's terms
Pick a niche and an angle this week. A narrow angle inside a niche with reach, such as Norse monsters, heists from history or one space fact a day, gets recognized in the feed faster than a general channel. Our niche playbooks cover formats, hooks and earning ranges, niche by niche.
Post every day from day one. A hundred days is about a hundred Shorts, which is a hundred chances for a video to break out. A typical stock-footage Short costs about 12 ShortFast credits, so a daily series uses about 360 credits a month, well inside the Starter plan's 1,000.
Add a long-form video when you can. Watch hours are a second route in, and long-form earns more per view. On the Advanced plan, ShortFast makes 16:9 videos of 8 to 15 minutes and posts them to YouTube as regular videos.
Post the same daily series to TikTok and Instagram Reels as well. Publishing uses no extra credits (the Pro plan connects 3 social accounts, one per platform), it grows the audience on two more platforms, and TikTok's Creator Rewards Program pays on videos over one minute once an account has 10,000 followers and 100,000 views in 30 days.
Watch the right numbers weekly. In YouTube Studio, the share of viewers who keep watching rather than swiping away tells you whether your openings work. Change hooks and topics first, and leave the schedule running.
Apply the moment you qualify. Check the Earn section of YouTube Studio as you get close, and apply as soon as you meet the thresholds, because review takes days to weeks.
Stay original. The inauthentic content rule, renamed in July 2025, excludes mass-produced and repetitive uploads from monetization. An original script per video, footage chosen for it and variety across the week are what keep a fast-growing channel eligible at review.
If you do not make it by February 1
The channel is not wasted. Everything you built counts toward the new thresholds, and the fan funding tier still opens at 500 subscribers with 3,000 watch hours or 3 million Shorts views, which gives you memberships, Super Thanks and Shopping on the way. TikTok and Reels keep growing in parallel, and long-form watch hours keep accumulating over a 365-day window.
The difference is the target: 20 million Shorts views or 8,000 watch hours instead of half that. That is why starting now, rather than in January, is the single highest-leverage decision a new faceless channel can make this year.
Where ShortFast fits
ShortFast turns a topic into a finished faceless video, in licensed documentary footage or one of 27 visual styles, with a script, hook, voiceover and burned-in captions, and posts it to YouTube Shorts, TikTok and Instagram Reels on a schedule. An automation keeps the series going with a new episode for every slot. Plans start at $19 a month for 1,000 credits, and every monthly plan starts with a 3-day trial for $1.
FAQ
Common questions
- What are the YouTube Partner Program requirements from February 1, 2027?
- New channels need 1,000 subscribers plus either 8,000 qualified watch hours in the last 365 days or 20 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days. Until January 31, 2027, the thresholds are 4,000 watch hours in 12 months or 10 million Shorts views in 90 days.
- If I join the Partner Program before February 1, 2027, do I keep my status?
- Yes. YouTube says channels already in the Partner Program are not affected by the new entry thresholds. From February 1, 2027, every channel needs 10 million Shorts views over the last 90 days to earn from the Shorts revenue pool in a given month, but missing that does not remove you from the program.
- Do Shorts views count toward the 8,000 watch hours?
- No. Views from the Shorts feed do not count toward watch hours, the same as today. A Shorts-only channel qualifies through the Shorts views route; long-form videos are what build watch hours.
- Does the fan funding tier change in 2027?
- No. Memberships, Super Thanks and Shopping still open at 500 subscribers, 3 public uploads in 90 days, and either 3,000 watch hours in 12 months or 3 million Shorts views in 90 days. It does not include ad revenue sharing.
- Can a faceless channel still qualify before the deadline?
- A channel starting in late October 2026 has about a hundred days, which is enough for about a hundred daily Shorts. Whether that reaches 10 million views depends on the niche, the hooks and a few breakout videos, so nobody can promise it, but posting daily from now is the best chance of qualifying on today's terms.